[1] Tariq A, Gao Y, Zeng F, Sardans J, Ahmed Z, Graciano C, Hughes AC, Penuelas J. 2026. Guardian of arid lands: deep-rooted defense against desertification and climate change. Trends in Plant Science. 31: 295-312.

[2] Penuelas J. Zheng B, Tariq A, Sardans J. 2026. Microbial phosphorus cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Nature Reviews Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-026-01296-w

[3] Tariq A, Graciano C, Sardans J, Zeng J, Hughes AC, Ahmed Z, Ullah A, Ali S, Gao Y, Penuelas J. 2024. Plant root mechanisms and their effects on carbon and nutrient accumulation in desert ecosystems under changes in land-use and climate. New Phytologist. 242: 916-934.

[4] Tariq A*, Sardans J, Zeng F, Graciano C, Hughes AC, Farre-Armengol G, Penuelas J. 2024. Impact of aridity rise and arid lands expansion on carbon-storing capacity, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem services. Global Change Biology. 30: e17292.

[5] Tariq A*, Graciano C, Sardans J, Ullah A, Zeng F, Ullah I, Ahmed Z, Ali S, Al-Bakre DA, Zhang Z, Bai Y, Wang W, Penuelas J. 2022. Decade-long unsustainable vegetation management practices increase macronutrient losses from the plant-soil system in the Taklamakan desert. Ecological Indicators. 145: 109653.

[6] Tariq A*, Ullah A, Graciano C, Zeng F, Gao Y, Sardans, J, Hughes AC, Zhang Z, Penuelas J. 2024. Combining different species in restoration is not always the right decision: monocultures can provide higher ecological functions than intercropping in a desert ecosystem. Journal of Environmental Management. 357: 120807.

[7] Tariq A*, Ullah A, Sardans J, Zeng F*, Graciano C, Li X, Wang W, Ahmed Z, Ali S, Zhang Z, Gao Y, Peñuelas J. 2022. Alhagi sparsifolia: An ideal phreatophyte for combating desertification and land degradation. Science of the Total Environment. 844, 157228.

[8] Tariq A*, Zeng F, Graciano C, Ullah A, Gao Y, Sardans J, Ali S, Hughes AC, Al-Bakre DA, Penuelas J. 2025. Dual impacts of long-term vegetation management practices on plant-soil ecological multifunctionality: Call for sustainable management in desert ecosystems. Journal of Environmental Management. 375: 124409.

[9] Tariq A, Pan K., Olatunji OA, Graciano C, Li Z, Ningning Li, Sun F, Song D, Wu X, Dakhil MA, Sun X, Zhang L, 2018. Impact of phosphorus application on drought resistant responses of Eucalyptus grandis seedlings. Physiologia Plantarum. 166: 894-908.

[10] Tariq A*, Ullah I, Sardans J, Graciano C, Mussarat S, Ullah A, Zeng F, Wang W, Al-Bakre DA, Ahmed Z, Ali S, Zhihao Z, Yaseen A, Penuelas J. 2023. Strigolactones can be a potential tool to fight environmental stresses in arid lands. Environmental Research, 229: 115966.

[11] Tariq A*, Sardans J, Penuelas J, Zhang Z, Graciano C, Zeng F, Olatunji OA, Ullah A, Pan K. 2022. Intercropping of leguminous and non-leguminous desert plant species does not facilitate phosphorus mineralization and plant nutrition. Cells, 11: 998.

[12] Tariq A, Pan K., Olatunji OA, Graciano C, Li Z, Ningning Li, Sun F, Song D, Huang D, Gong S, Francis M, Pandey B, Idrees M, Dakhil MA, 2019. Role of nitrogen supplementation in alleviating drought-associated growth and metabolic impairments in Phoebe zhennan seedlings. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science. 182: 586–596.

[13] Tariq A, Pan K, Olatunji OA, Graciano C, Li Z, Sun F, Sun X, Song D, Chen W, Zhang A, Wu X, Zhang L, Mingrui D, Xiong Q and Liu C. 2017. Phosphorous application improves drought tolerance of Phoebe zhennan. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8: 1561.

[14] Tariq A*, Graciano C, Pan K, Olatunji OA, Li Z, Sadia S, Zhang Z, Ismoilov K, Ahmed Z, Ullah A, Zeng F. 2022. Phosphorus fertilization of Phoebe zhennan seedlings under drought reduces nitrogen assimilation. Journal of Plant Nutrition. 45, 2228-2238.

[15] Tariq A*, Pan K., Olatunji OA, Graciano C, Li Z, Sun F, Song D, Chen W, Zhang A, Wu X, Zhang L, Tan X, Huang D. 2018. Phosphorous fertilization alleviates drought effects on Alnus cremastogyne by regulating its antioxidant and osmotic potential. Scientific Reports 8, 5644.

[16] Gao Y, Tariq A*, Zeng F, Sardans J, Al-Bakre DA, Penuelas J. 2025. Long-Term Anthropogenic Disturbances Exacerbate Soil Organic Carbon Loss in Hyperarid Desert Ecosystems. Global Change Biology. 8: e70423.

[17] Gao Y, Tariq A*, Zeng F, Sardans J, Al-Bakre DA, & Penuelas J. 2024. Fractions of soil phosphorus mediated by rhizospheric phoD-harbouring bacteria of deep-rooted desert species are determined by fine-root traits. Functional Ecology. 38: 2300–2315.

[18] Gao Y, Tariq A*, Zeng F, Sardans J, Al-Bakre DA, Penuelas J. 2025. Seasonal dynamics and allocation patterns of foliar phosphorus fractions in deep-rooted desert species under phosphorus-poor environments. Journal of Plant Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf173.

[19] Gao Y, Tariq A*, Sardans J, Penuelas J, Zhihao Z, Islam W, Xu M. Fertile islands beneath three desert vegetation on soil phosphorus fractions, enzymatic activities, and microbial biomass in the desert-oasis transition zone. CATENA. 212: 106090.

[20] Zhang Z, Tariq A*, Zeng F, Graciano C, Zhang B. 2020. Nitrogen application mitigates drought-induced metabolic changes in Alhagi sparsifolia seedlings by regulating nutrient and biomass allocation patterns. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 155: 828-841. 

[1] 新疆维吾尔自治区人民政府“天山奖”（2021）

[2] 爱思唯尔（Elsevier）与斯坦福大学“全球前2%顶尖科学家”榜单（2021、2024、2025）

[3] 西班牙生态研究与林业应用中心（CREAF）全球生态单元（GEU）正式成员（2022）

[4] 中国科学院新疆生态与地理研究所创新贡献奖（2021）

[5] 中国科学院大学国际杰出学者奖学金（PIFI）(2019)

[6] 中国科学院与发展中国家科学院（CAS-TWAS）院长奖学金（2015）

[7] 巴基斯坦开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省政府金奖（2012）